No logic, just hate speech

Below is what far-Left economist Paul Krugman recently wrote on the NYT. I frankly can't make head or tail of what he is driving at. Only the hate of conservatives comes through

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued? Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

Source

What did Krugman think Americans should have done in response to 9/11? Shout "Allah Akhbar"? A writer here thinks Krugman is insane. Insane with hate, I would say.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Seattle Teacher Gets Jail in Sex Case - Updated

(Seattle, Washington) Barbara Jeanne Anderson has been sentenced.

A Kentlake High School math teacher accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student has been sentenced to eight months in jail.

Jailed since pleading guilty to a related charge in July, Covington resident Barbara Jeanne Anderson was sentenced Friday afternoon in King County Superior Court.

King County prosecutors had alleged that Anderson was something of a confidant for the boy and then began having sex with him.

According to charging documents, the King County Sheriff's Office was contacted in early February when the teen allegedly threatened to kill himself. Investigators came to learn that Anderson, 37, initiated a sexual relationship around that time.

Anderson, a married mother-of-two, was also ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve her sentence without opportunities for work release or home detention.

* * * * *
Seattle Teacher Guilty of Sex with Boy - Updated
[Previous 7/29/11 post]
(Seattle, Washington) Earlier today, 37-year-old Kentlake High School teacher Barbara Jeanne Anderson pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.

According to a report by sheriff's Det. Christine Elias, Anderson and the boy had sex once.

Anderson, a married mother of two, was suspended from her job at the Kent School District and placed on paid leave while the King County Sheriff's Office investigated the allegations. Her current job status is unclear.

Anderson faces a possible year in jail when sentenced on September 9.

* * * * *
Seattle Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 3/22/11 post]
(Seattle, Washington) A 37-year-old math teacher at Kentlake High School, Barbara Jeanne Anderson, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Authorities were alerted to investigate after the boy's mother noticed an extraordinary number of text messages between Anderson and her son.

Anderson was arrested on suspicion of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.

Police allege the maths tutor groped the boy in her classroom and later drove him to a housing development near his home where she performed a sex act on him.

The age of consent in Washington is 16 but statutes make exceptions for teachers or other adults in positions of authority to have sexual relations with anyone under 18.

Anderson was booked into custody at the King County Jail and subsequently released pending the filing of formal charges.

Helping the Homeless

Same old story.

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President, what would be the first thing you would do?"

She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed with pride.

"Wow...what a worthy goal." I told her. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my driveway, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

From here.

Miss Universe 2011

(Sao Paolo, Brazil) The Miss Universe 2011 Pageant tonight in Sao Paolo is tinged with some controversy regarding two of the contestants.

Miss Australia, Scherri-Lee Biggs, 20, has been accused of showing too much and Miss Colombia, Catalina Robayo, 22, has been accused of going commando.


 
Scherri-Lee Biggs & Catalina Robayo

According to sources, Biggs was told her bikini is "way too sexy" and her evening gown is "offensively see through."

Additionally, Catalina Robayo has been accused of forgetting her panties during pageant promotions. Interestingly, there is even a Facebook page for Pantyless Miss Universe.

The Miss Universe 2011 Pageant will be broadcast at 9PM ET tonight.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Companion post at The Jawa Report with NSFW commando pic.

Utah Woman Accused of Raping Girl

(Provo, Utah) A 33-year-old local woman, Heidi Pobanz, has been accused of raping a teenage girl during a 2009 camping trip and continuing with biweekly sexual assaults in other locations.

Pobanz faces charges of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and forcible sexual assault. Pobanz denies the allegations and her attorney, Anthony Rippa, said the accuser suffers from mental issues.

Prosecutors have acknowledged that Pobanz's accuser may suffer from mental issues. Following the preliminary hearing, prosecutor Craig Johnson said that the girl has suffered abuse in the past, and that the perpetrator of that abuse is committed to the state mental hospital.

But Johnson also expressed confidence in the state's case against Pobanz and pointed out that the girl has no reason to fabricate the allegations.

Pobanz faces trial beginning February 6, 2012.

Cliff Robertson: b.1923 - d.2011

(New York) Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson died over the weekend at Stony Brook University Medical Center on New York's Long Island, according to his longtime personal secretary.

Robertson was 88.

Robertson was known for playing young Lt. John F. Kennedy in "PT 109" and winning an Oscar for the movie "Charly."

Robertson appeared regularly on television and in more than 50 films in a 50-year career. His family stated that he died from natural causes.

An amusing Leftist evasion about Christian faith and abortion

NPR has an article up titled: "Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith"

That immediately led me to expect a debate about Bible doctrine and I was figuratively rubbing my hands about that as I think I can say without boasting that I know my Bible extremely well. Check my Scripture blog if you doubt it.

Instead what I found in the article was a discussion about how evangelicals were slow to react to Roe vs. Wade. The article was a summary of discussions among various Protestant church leaders with nary a single reference to the Bible!

Now I for one take a considerable interest in early church history but anybody who knows anything about modern Protestant groups knows that trying to unify them or even sum them up is like herding cats. They are inherent individualistic and expecting ANY united action from them is extremely optimistic.

And that there was no immediate concerted protest against freely available abortion is the whole complaint of the NPR article.

But that ignores the fact that abortion is an extremely difficult issue for most conservatives and many Christians. The Left are all for abortion. When they get total power they murder people by the millions so who cares about a few unborn babies?

Conservatives however recognize and respect individual rights and perceive that both the mother and baby have rights. So how to resolve a conflict between those rights? To this day, different Christians take different positions on the issue.

But our Leftist NPR writer is so tone deaf to moral argument that he showed no recognition that there was any issue there and that it might take some time to feel a way through the dilemmas involved. Leftists really are morally illiterate, some to the point of psychopathy.

For what I think is becoming a mainstream Christian approach to the abortion issue, see here

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Blast at French Nuke Plant

(Marcoule Plant, France) Breaking news!

One is dead and three are injured from a blast at a French nuclear plant. A fire at a radioactive storage facility is reportedly the initiating event.



[Update]

There is a risk of a radioactive leak after an explosion in an oven on Monday at the Marcoule nuclear site near the city of Nimes in the south of France, emergency services said.

The site is partly used by French nuclear giant Areva to produce MOX fuel which recycles plutonium from nuclear weapons. Part of the process involves firing superheated plutonium and uranium pellets in an oven.

The incident is being live blogged here.

Note that the body of the worker killed reportedly was "carbonized." Meanwhile, French nuclear authorities said there have been no radioactive releases outside the plant.

9/11/01 - Above the 92nd Floor - Anniversary

The tenth anniversary of the horror of 9/11/01 has come. There is noticeable progress on the new World Trade Center and Osama bin Laden is dead after being taken out by U.S. Navy SEALs.

* * * * *
9/11/01 - Above the 92nd Floor - Revisited
[Previous 9/11/10 post]
Another anniversary, the ninth, of the horror of 9/11/01 has come and still there is no new building or buildings on the World Trade Center site to demonstrate strength and resurgence from the destruction. I don't know why.

Meanwhile, a Muslim group wants to build a mosque within spitting distance of the WTC site, calling it the Cordoba House, a reference to the Muslim conquest of the Spanish city of the same name in the Middle Ages.

New Yorkers and other Americans have become enraged about the placement and naming of the mosque. I personally think it's offensive to have an Islamic religious center called Cordoba House, implying conquest, adjacent to the former site of the World Trade Center buildings taken down by Muslims of the fundamental persuasion.

I also think it's intentional, to send a message of the absolute strength of Islam and to function as an enduring symbol for the Muslim world. "Look, Osama took down the infidel's skyscrapers and replaced them with a mosque."

It remains to be seen whether there will be any progress this coming year on the new World Trade Center.

* * * * *
[Previous 9/11/09 post]
The horror of September 11, 2001, plagues me -- and will continue to do so for as long as I have a heartbeat. Long-time readers of this blog will recognize the following tribute to three tradesmen, Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz, Manuel Da Mota, and Joshua Poptean, who were guilty of nothing more than going to work one fateful day. New readers may benefit from gleaning a snippet of exactly what happened on September 11, 2001.

However, it's not for the new readers that I repeat the story, it's for me. I want to read through and update, as appropriate, this post. I want to relive the sensations of 9/11, recharging my storehouses of outrage and white-hot anger, of sadness, of sorrow and of fear. I want to remember the heroism of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department and the Port Authority Police. I want my long-term memory prompted to recall images of sobbing wives and mothers and sons and daughters and fathers and husbands. I want to remember tears from reddened eyes on faces of loved ones holding photos of the missing, crying for help, crying for information.

For me, revisiting the story of Obdulio, Manuel and Joshua is simply the right thing to do.

Above the 92nd Floor

American Airlines Flight 11, scheduled Boston to Los Angeles, took off from Logan Airport at 7:59am on September 11, 2001. Its flight path was due west.

About the same time, 44-year-old Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz arrived at One World Trade Center along with two coworkers, 43-year-old Manuel Da Mota and 37-year-old Joshua Poptean. The three men then took the minutes-long elevator trip to the Windows of the World restaurant on the 107th floor.

Representing Bronx Builders, a woodworking and renovation company, Ruiz-Diaz, Da Mota and Poptean commenced planning and scheduling a remodeling project for one of the bars in the restaurant.

  
Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz, Manuel Da Mota, and Joshua Poptean

At 8:20am, Flight 11's pilots stopped transmitting a transponder signal and turned the plane northward, a dramatic change from the intended heading. Although the pilots had not actuated a distress call, controllers concluded Flight 11 had likely been hijacked.

At 8:28am, the controllers' traffic screens displayed Flight 11 making a 100 degree turn to the south.

Meanwhile, Obdulio, Manuel and Joshua concentrated on their job planning efforts. They discussed the client's desired results, took measurements, and identified necessary materials and equipment for the renovation project.

At 8:46am, traveling at 490 miles per hour, American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying thousands of pounds of jet fuel, crashed into One World Trade Center between the 94th and 98th floors. The resultant fire and collapse of the building killed Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz and his coworkers. Their deaths were confirmed by the coroner's office.


North WTC burning. South WTC just before collision.
Obdulio Ruiz-Diaz, Manuel Da Mota and Joshua Poptean were targeted for murder, not by name, but by the fact that they were human beings in America. The Islamofascists didn't care who they murdered just as long as the body count was high.

Approximately 3,000 people were murdered on September 11, 2001. Everyone above the 92nd floor of the North Tower, 1360 people, died. Obdulio, Manuel, and Joshua were three of them.

We won't forget you.

Link: Remembering the Victims of 9/11

And, eight years hence, the horror perpetrated on the United States has not been reciprocated. In my opinion, the enemies of America have not been made to pay for 3,000 murders.


[Add. 2009 entry] Public Service on 9/11

As I understand, to remember the horror of 3,000 murders on 9/11/2001, President Obama has called for citizens to pick up litter or work in soup kitchens or register voters or some other public service. Frankly, I'm offended. It appears that the President wants the remembrance of 9/11 besmirched down to something similar to Arbor Day.

Personally, I want to relive all the sensations of 9/11, recharging my storehouses of outrage and white-hot anger, of sadness, of sorrow and of fear. I want to remember the heroism of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department and the Port Authority Police. I want my long-term memory prompted to recall images of sobbing wives and mothers and sons and daughters and fathers and husbands. I want to remember tears from reddened eyes on faces of loved ones holding photos of the missing, crying for help, crying for information. And, I want to remember who the terrorists were and still are and I want justice.

There are American children born after 9/11 who don't know what occurred and they are not going to learn by cleaning litter from ditches or planting trees. They will learn by national emphasis on what happened that day when 3,000 friends and neighbors were killed in a terrorist attack on the United States.

Today should be devoted to talking and learning about what happened on 9/11. Picking up litter can wait until tomorrow.

Also: The Jawa Report

The blocked ears of political correctness allowed the 9/11 disaster to happen

All the intelligence needed to stop the attacks was there but nobody at the top wanted to hear it

Like millions of people around the world, former US intelligence operative Haig Melkessetian remembers exactly what he was doing on the morning of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York and Washington.

But even as he learnt of the carnage, he felt sick with anger and frustration. Over the preceding two years, Melkessetian had taken part in two separate investigations in the Middle East which might have thwarted the attacks – only to find his work dismissed as irrelevant.

He had identified the secret ‘hawala’ method which the hijackers would use to transfer money from al-Qaeda into their bank accounts, and the very office in the Persian Gulf they would use.

He also passed on to his bosses the real means by which the Taliban could be ousted and Bin Laden delivered up: by ‘buying off’ much of their tribal, military support. This was the very plan later deployed to defeat the Taliban - but only after the disaster of 9/11.

Like many other ground-level operatives in Western intelligence and security services, he had to stand back while the hidebound bureaucrats at the top failed to take action.

‘In 2001, you could feel the terrorist train coming down the tracks,’ says a former FBI counterterrorism analyst. ‘But at the top, they just weren’t listening to the people in the trenches, and their perspective was ignored.’ And while Melkessetsian’s story exemplifies that problem, it hasn’t, he adds, been rectified.

Ten years later, his bitter disappointment is as intense as ever. ‘I watched it unfold on TV,’ his says Melkessetian. ‘I knew immediately that this was a terrorist attack. And my next thought was that this should never have happened.’

A Christian Lebanese of Armenian descent who has been a naturalised US citizen since 1984, Melkessetian, 49, has revealed his story to the Mail on Sunday for the first time. But inside the secretive community of counterterrorism experts, he has long inspired awe.

‘We see movie characters like James Bond and Jason Bourne, and we assume they’re simply fiction,’ says a former US State Department official who knows Melkessetian well. ‘But then you meet Haig and realise he matches the fictional narrative with fact.’

Melkessetian’s attitudes were determined by his upbringing. ‘Being a Christian in the Middle East wasn’t easy,’ he says. ‘The terrorists started with us and just kept on going until they blew up New York.’

By the age of 17, he was fighting with the Christians’ special forces in Lebanon’s brutal civil war, and in the 1980s he played a key role in a secret intelligence unit that located the secret prisons run by Shia extremists, where more than 20 western hostages, including the British journalist John McCarthy, were being held hostage.

By the summer of 1986, he and his colleagues had planned a daring military operation that would have both freed the hostages and inflicted serious damage on the terrorists’ network.

But after months of Washington in-fighting, it was vetoed. ‘They were just too risk-averse,’ says Melkessetian. ‘The same weakness bedevilled us before 9/11.’

Melkessetian’s fluent Arabic and cultural knowledge meant he was able to move freely around the Gulf states, mixing easily with all strata of society, from Arab police and security chiefs to the denizens of the souks.

‘Pretty soon his unit, Detachment 246, was the single most productive source of actionable intelligence in the whole CENTCOM area [which covers most of the Middle East and Central Asia],’ the former State Department official says. ‘That was down to Haig.’

Melkessetian’s March 2000 official staff appraisal praised his ‘extensive knowledge of terrorist groups, membership and leadership,’ and his ‘unique ability’ at recruiting local sources. It added: ‘His role was the reason for gaining vital intelligence information, which was passed on to the highest levels of the US government.’

Much more HERE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Cherokee Nation Expels Descendants of Freedmen

(Tulsa, Oklahoma) Before the Civil War, some members of the Cherokee tribe owned slaves who were freed with the Emancipation Proclamation. The freedmen were absorbed into the Cherokee Nation as citizens.

Consequently, for 150 years the Cherokee Nation has been defined as those with Cherokee blood and those who are descendants of freed slaves. However, there's been a change.

The Cherokee Nation acted this week after its Supreme Court upheld the results of a 2007 special vote to amend the Cherokee constitution and remove the slaves' descendants and other non-Indians from tribal rolls.

What this means is that the descendants of slaves will no longer be able to collect the benefits provided to Cherokee Nation members, including medical care, food stipends, homeowners' allowances and others.

Naturally, those stripped of their citizenship are perturbed.

"This definitely is a setback for our freedmen people because we were all eager to vote in the upcoming election," said Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes.

"The attitude is more like, `We can't put them in chains, so we'll do anything we can to take away their rights.' It's a matter of racism and politics."

It appears the controversy has devolved into a red man, black man racial issue.

Tip: slwlion

Ohio Mom Indicted for Raping Baby

(Columbus, Ohio) A 24-year-old local woman, Ashley N. Jessup, has been accused of raping her 10-month-old son and videotaping the incident.

Jessup was indicted this week on two counts of rape, one count of child endangerment and one count of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor.

The investigation began when the boyfriend's former girlfriend discovered the videotapes and reported them to Michigan State Police.

Jessup, a former resident of Battle Creek, was arrested Sept. 1 after Columbus police searched her apartment.

Jessup was booked into custody at the Franklin County Correctional Center with bond set at $1 million.

Price of Celibacy

(Nice, France) A woman sued her ex-husband claiming that he didn't properly service her sexually during their marriage. As a result, the man was ordered to pay his ex-wife $14,000.

Under France's civil code, married couples are supposed to live a "shared communal life." A judge has now ruled that this implies that "sexual relations must form part of a marriage."

The woman filed for divorce two years ago, citing lack of bedroom activity as the reason. A judge in Nice, France, agreed with her argument, granting the split and placing the husband solely at fault.

Heh.

Tip: slwlion

WV School Counselor Guilty in Sex Case - Updated

(Keyser, West Virginia) In accordance with a plea agreement, Mineral County educator Denise Fitch pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree sexual assault stemming from relations with three male high school students.

Fitch was originally charged with five counts of third-degree sexual assault; six counts of sexual abuse by a guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust; and one count of sexual abuse.

As part of the plea agreement, Fitch only pleaded guilty to the three counts of third-degree sexual assault.

“(She is) pleading to three counts and (we’ll) drop the rest,” said Judge Lynn Nelson.

Fitch will be subjected to lifetime registration as a sex offender. She faces one-to-five years prison on each count. A sentencing date is TBD.

* * * * *
WV School Counselor Faces Sex Charges
[Previous 2/12/11 post]
(Keyser, West Virginia) A 41-year-old counselor at Keyser Primary-Middle School, Denise Fitch, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in sexual relations with three students last summer.

Fitch faces three counts of sexual assault of minors under the age of 16.

According to Mineral County Prosecuting Attorney Jay Courrier, the victims were two 14-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy.

In July, Courrier provided the West Virginia State Police a referral from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources after Fitch confessed to a local counselor that she had sex with two of the boys.

In November, the police received information that she had confessed to a family member as well.

Police also interviewed one of the victims last month and the other two boys earlier this month.

Fitch was booked into custody at the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail with bond set at $75,000.

Topless Reading Club - Updated

Definitely NSFW is The Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society website which professes to make reading sexy. More than two dozen NSFW images of attractive topless women are displayed.

Interestingly, the pictures on the website indicate that all the women have been reading the same book for at least three weeks.

* * * * *
Topless Reading Club
[Previous 9/8/11 post]
(New York City) Officially, it's called The Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society (TOCETPFAS) but you could call it the topless reading club where women, aged between 19 and 42, meet and read without their shirts.



According to TOCETPFAS spokeswoman Alethea Andrews:

”Guys lie around topless in the park all the time, while the girls around them are sweating in bras and shirts.

”That’s just silly when the law says we can go topless the same as they can.

”The group’s overall aim is for girls who want to take advantage of the legality of being topless in New York to be able to, while reading books.

”We want this to go from being something taboo to something of social inconsequence.”

At the link, there are NSFW pictures of TOCETPFAS members reading at various places around NYC. Interestingly, in the images every woman appears to be reading the same book. What are the odds?

* * *
[Add.] According to a comment from JW, reading clubs tend toward having all members read the same book. I'll not disagree but my experience is different.

Maybe it's a function of format. My one experience with a club had everyone reading whatever was appealing and we would meet over coffee once a week for a discussion period. It was organized by the local library which encouraged participants to read, read, read, a variety of books. (I recall being on a biography kick and could easily plow through several in a week. Others tackled historical novels which took much more time.)

In any event, my own experience deemed it odd that they were all reading the same book. To me, the books appeared to be mere props in the women's campaign to get noticed. In reality, topless women usually don't need props to get noticed.

Of course, there's another angle to consider. Maybe the women want to convey the message that they're not typical topless bimbos, they am smart.

Since I don't know the women nor how they have organized, I'll allow that I could be completely wrong. Nonetheless, one thing is certain. Something appears odd with me for putting more focus on their bookbags than their funbags.

Hiking Nude




(Zurich, Switzerland) Feel like hiking naked?

A young Swiss woman has announced her plan to establish the first official naked hiking trail in Switzerland in the rugged hills of Zürich Oberland, but local authorities say they have not yet received a planning application.

Evelyn Schwarzenbach, a 17-year-old high school leaver from Kantonsschule Zürcher Oberland professes to have a long-standing interest in naked hikers, having previously chosen the subject as a theme for her final thesis.

If the naked hiking initiator has her way, nudists will be stripping off between Wald and Goldingen to walk around in the buff save for a pair of hiking boots, socks and perhaps some sunscreen.

Swiss federal law allows nudity in public but it's banned by some local regulations.

Obama Bypasses New Hampshire Government

Feds are taking over abortion funding in New Hampshire.

The Susan B. Anthony List today condemned the Obama Administration for its decision to directly contract with family planning clinics in the state of New Hampshire.

The move comes after New Hampshire's Executive Council voted in June to no longer contract with Planned Parenthood clinics in the state.

Heh.

Maine Teacher Gets 90 Days in Sex Case - Updated

(Skowhegan, Maine) A 23-year-old substitute teacher at Lawrence High School, Angel L. Crowley, has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a male student under 16 years of age.

As a result, Crowley was sentenced to 364 days in the county jail, with all but 90 days suspended.

She is also ordered to serve a year of probation upon her release and is forbidden to have any contact with males under the age of 16 unless supervised by an adult, and only then with the approval of the child's family.

Court documents show that the victim was 14 or 15 years old when the abuse happened in Fairfield between Jan. 1, 2010, and Feb. 28, 2010. Crowley pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the more serious charge of gross sexual assault, a class C felony, according to the court documents.

Crowley started serving her sentence at Somerset County Jail on Wednesday.

Prophecies of an egalitarian utopia based on false assumptions

As the British parliament rose for its summer recess this year, Opposition Leader Ed Miliband handed the members of his shadow cabinet some holiday homework. He told them to read a book that has been capturing the attention of the Left, not only in Britain but across the Western world.

Written by a couple of socialist academics, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, the book is called The Spirit Level. The clue to why so many on the Left have been drawn to it is in the subtitle: Why Equality is Better for Everyone.

This book seeks to reinstate radical income redistribution at the heart of the Left's political agenda. Socialists always have believed in greater equality, of course, but until now their case has rested on an ethical principle that it is morally wrong for some people to have a lot more money than others.

As with all ethical principles, this can be challenged. Why should people who work hard have the fruits of their labour taken away to be given to lazier folk, for example? The Right points out that hard work and risk deserve reward, and equalising shares can be quite immoral.

The Spirit Level aims to break away from these ethical conundrums and to replace them with the authority of science. It says governments should redistribute incomes, not because it is moral but because equality produces happier people and better-functioning societies. It claims everybody stands to benefit from income redistribution, rich and poor alike.

If this claim were true, it would pull the rug from under the feet of the Right. If a radical redistribution of income and wealth really did benefit everybody, how could the Right continue to hold out against it? The case for high taxes, big government and massive income transfers would be unanswerable. But it's not true. This book has many flaws (even though Miliband, and others on the Left appear blind to them).

The book's evidence consists of a series of graphs apparently showing that people in more equal countries live longer, are less likely to get murdered, enjoy higher literacy rates, suffer less mental illness and trust each other more. These findings are repeated for the 50 US states, where the authors find that states with the widest income spread have worse outcomes. But little of this evidence stands up to critical scrutiny.

Their sample of countries is biased. It excludes nations such as South Korea, where strong social outcomes coexist with high income inequality, as well as those such as the Czech Republic, with poor social outcomes despite a compressed income distribution.

Their choice of measures is also biased. Community strength is measured by whether people say they trust their neighbours, but membership of voluntary organisations is ignored. Drug dependency is included as an indicator of social pathology but not alcohol abuse. Murders likewise are in, but suicides are out. Prison numbers are analysed, but not crime figures. Government aid to foreign countries is included as a measure of generosity and compassion, but not private donations to charities. High teenage births are analysed as an indicator of family dysfunction, but not high divorce rates.

What is striking about this list of inclusions and exclusions is that, in every case, the measures that Wilkinson and Pickett selected fit their argument while the alternative measures would have undermined it. In short, they cherry-picked.

Their data analysis, too, is suspect, for they allow extreme cases to create the appearance of an association where there is none. For example, they claim that inequality produces a higher homicide rate, but this depends entirely on the US, where the murder rate is three times higher than anywhere else. Look beyond the US and you often find the most equal countries, such as Sweden and Finland, have a worse murder rate than less equal ones, including Britain and Australia. Yet appealing to their misleading graph, the authors claim Britain's murder rate would be three times lower if it had Scandinavian levels of income inequality.

The Scandinavians, it is true, do fare better than the "Anglo" countries on many of their measures, but this is not because inequality is lower in Scandinavia. It rather reflects the homogeneity of the Nordic countries as against the diversity of the Anglo nations, for the greater the social mix, the weaker the social bonds tend to be. We see this clearly in the variations between US states. Wilkinson and Pickett find the more equal states (usually those in the northeast) do better than the less equal ones (concentrated in the south).

But had they taken account of the ethnic mix of these states, they would have found ethnicity is a much stronger predictor of social outcomes than income distribution. Ethnicity is 18 times more powerful in predicting a state's infant mortality rate, for example.

The issue of equality is important, and it generates strong and impassioned arguments on both sides. But The Spirit Level is little more than polemic. It is to be hoped that we do not allow its spurious claims to scientific status to muddy the waters of our political and moral debate.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Obama Speech to Joint Session of Congress

The Associated Press fact checked President Obama's American Jobs Act speech presented earlier this evening.

The plan he presented was conventional Washington rhetoric in one respect: It employs sleight-of-hand accounting.

I assess it was an unremarkable political speech with no specifics to address the real problem with the economy -- uncertainty in the marketplace.

Amish Men Sought in Assault Case

(Wilmington Township, Pennsylvania) Last weekend, three teenage girls were allegedly assaulted by five Amish men.

Pennsylvania State Police were called to a horse auction business on PA Route 208 in Wilmington Township.

Two 13-year-old girls and a 12-year-old girl told troopers they were inappropriately touched, fondled and grabbed by five Amish men between the ages of 18 and 25.

"It's believed that the individuals who did the assault were intoxicated, and did pull one of the young girls down a set of stairs, and punched her in the arm or something," said Trooper Matthew Roth.

Reports state the girls were punched if they didn't do what the suspects told them. There were no serious injuries, but one of the victims was treated at a Mercer County hospital.

The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating.

Tip: slwlion

Woman Accused of Providing Booze to Minors

(Kansas City, Missouri) A 46-year-old local woman, Sandra Triebel, has been accused of providing alcohol to a 16-year-old girl, Laura Beth Reynolds, who subsequently died in an automobile accident.

A 19-year-old, Kenneth Blake II, was also charged in the death.

Triebel faces charges of second-degree involuntary manslaughter, supplying liquor to a minor and a misdemeanor charge of allowing minors to drink alcohol inside of her residence.

Several partygoers, including Blake, left Triebel’s intoxicated, according to court records.

Reynolds was killed later that evening in a two-car crash at near U.S. 24 and Davis Road. Authorities said Blake was driving west in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 24 when his car struck an eastbound car carrying Reynolds and two other teens.

Authorities said Blake had a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.18, or more than twice the legal limit.

Details on booking and bond are not available.

Illinois Teacher Gets 5 Years in Sex Case - Updated

(Mount Vernon, Illinois) Former Bethel Grade School teacher Lisa Miller, 42, pleaded guilty yesterday in accordance with a plea agreement to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy.

As a result, Miller was sentenced to five years in prison.

She served one day in jail following her arrest, and will be given credit for the one day served on her sentence.

According to the factual basis for the plea, Miller sexually assaulted the student in the bedroom at her home, and admitted to the conduct during interviews with the Mt. Vernon Police Department.

In addition to pleading guilty to the charge, Miller agreed to waive her right to later withdraw the guilty plea and waived her right to appeal in the case.

Miller was ordered to surrender to the Illinois Department of Corrections on October 11 which allows her time to transfer guardianship of her two children to her parents. Miller will also have time to explain to the kids why mommy is going away.

* * * * *
Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy - Updated
[Previous 6/23/11 post]
(Mount Vernon, Illinois) Since her arrest in 2006, former special education teacher at Bethel Grade School, Lisa Miller, has been free on $150,000 bond.

Miller faces three counts of criminal sexual assault for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old student three times in 2005. Charges were filed in 2006 when Miller also resigned her teaching position.

Several trial dates have been vacated since her arrest, and negotiations have been ongoing between the defense and Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s office, according to court information.

The latest trial date has been scheduled for Sept. 13, with a final pretrial conference on Aug. 31.

It's not clear why prosecution of Miller's case has taken so long.

* * * * *
Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 7/21/07 post]
(Mount Vernon, Illinois) Last May, 37-year-old special education teacher at Bethel Grade School, Lisa Miller, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old male student. The sex allegedly occurred on three separate occasions in April 2005 with a male who was "barely 14" at the time.

Mt. Vernon Police Department detectives investigated Miller after being alerted by school officials of a possible inappropriate relationship. Subsequently, Miller was charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault. She was booked and released on bond.

In the latest development, Miller is scheduled to appear at a jury pretrial hearing in September.

Doctor of Pole Dancing



Miriam Wolanski

(Scotland) The world's first doctorate degree of pole dancing will soon be awarded by Stirling University to 26-year-old Miriam Wolanski. It's unknown if a Ph.D. in monkey bars is contemplated.

Wrong to describe a woman as attractive?

"Good sort" is old-fashioned Australian slang for "attractive woman". It is entirely complimentary and in no way derogatory. But the manager of an Australian football team has been penalized for using the expression!

Manly Sea Eagles media manager Peter "Zorba" Peters was stood down last week for telling Sky News journalist Megan Barnard she was "a good sort" not once, but twice, on camera outside the NRL judiciary.

While some have leapt to his defence, calling it political correctness gone mad, others have seen the incident as indicative not only of entrenched negative attitudes towards women in a male-dominated environment, but a sign that for all our focus on educating the community about inappropriate comments, little is getting through.

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Major "Islamicism" Threat in Canada

In an interview to be aired tonight, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that Canada is safer than on 9/11/01 but "the major threat is still Islamicism."

"There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats," Harper said.

Harper also said that his government will reinstate two anti-terrorist laws that were allowed to expire.

One allowed police to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for three days without charges if police believed a terrorist act may have been committed.

The other allowed a judge to compel a witness to testify in secret about past associations or perhaps pending acts under penalty of going to jail if the witness didn't comply.

Heh.

Michigan Woman Accused of Molesting Boy, 5

(Warren, Michigan) A 42-year-old local woman, Michelle Lester, has been accused of molesting her roommate's five-year-old son while babysitting.

Lester faces a charge of second-degree criminal sexual assault.

When the boy's Mother returned home police say a friend told her that something may have happened to her child while she was away. She confronted Lester and we're told Lester did make some admissions.

Police tell Action News that the young victim's Mother was so upset that she punched Lester.

Investigators with Warren Police say Lester allegedly took off the boys pants and fondled him after he got home from school.

Lester was booked into custody with bond set at $10,000.

Plane Crash Kills 43 in Russia



Russian Yak-42 jet crash 9/7/11
(Moscow, Russia) There was a tragic plane crash this morning in western Russia about 140 miles northeast of Moscow.

Reportedly, 43 people are dead and two are critically injured.

The crash, which took the lives of several former NHL players, exploded under clear blue skies at the Yaroslavl Airport and has left the international hockey community reeling.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 crashed immediately after taking off from an airport near Yaroslavl, on the Volga River, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow.

The air traffic safety record for Russia is poor.

Dead Man in Hot Tub

(Little Rock, Arkansas) Local weatherman Brett Cummins, 33, was found the morning after a party, sleeping in a hot tub next to the naked corpse of a male friend. The corpse sported only a dog collar.

Christopher Barbour, a resident of the house where Cummins was found with the dead body, told police that he witnessed Cummins and the man–a friend of his named Dexter Paul Williams–drinking and snorting illegal narcotics on Sunday night.

Barbour, Cummins, and Williams spent time together in a jacuzzi bathtub before Barbour left the pair alone and went to sleep on a couch in the living room.

When Barbour awoke the next morning, he heard snoring coming from the bathroom and entered to find Cummins asleep in the bathtub–now empty of water–with Williams’s body slumped behind him.

The cause of death is under investigation.

From KTLA:

KARK-TV in Little Rock, where Cummins works as a weatherman, posted a report of the death on its website on Tuesday.

The report said, "Our meteorologist Brett Cummins was at the home at the time of the death and we felt we should share this with our viewers. Brett will not be on the air as he is mourning the loss of his friend. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Dexter Williams."

As a public personality, Brett Cummins career will likely be impacted by this incident. It is scandalous.

Obama the flake



Can you imagine what the media would do if a Republican President made these errors? Yet Obama remains untouched. This is not a fair system. Dan Quayle misspelled potato and we never heard the end of it.

A man would could make this many errors is unqualified to be the most powerful man on earth.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Indiana Woman Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Martinsville, Indiana) Mindy J. Skeen, 34, has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor stemming from a relationship with a 14-year-old boy. As a result, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison, six years on each count.

* * * * *
Indiana Woman, 34, and Boy, 14
[Previous 6/2/11 post]
(Martinsville, Indiana) A 34-year-old local woman, Mindy Skeen, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Skeen faces two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Skeen told police the two had engaged in sexual intercourse multiple times at her former home in Whiteland and her home in Martinsville.

The sexual relationship began in 2009 and lasted for more than a year, according to the police report.

Skeen was booked into custody at the Johnson County Jail with bond set at $40,000.

Gender Lost in Translation?

(Jakarta, Indonesia) Yesterday, it was reported that a 41-year-old Ugandan man, Magambe Pheobe Annet, had been found dead in a hotel room on the island of Bali. He is believed to have been a drug mule since an autopsy found 1,192 grams of crystal methamphetamine in his stomach.

(Kampala, Uganda) Today, it's reported that a 41-year-old Ugandan woman, Pheobe Annet Magambe, was found dead in a hotel bathroom in Bali "stuffed with more than a kilogramme of crystal meth, an illegal drug."

Ostensibly, somewhere between Indonesia and Uganda an expedited transgender operation was performed. Or maybe there's another explanation. I suggest the readers decipher these news nuggets.

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson to Voice Sat Nav



Jeremy Clarkson
A new satellite navigation device will feature the barking voice of popular Top Gear program personality Jeremy Clarkson.

As well as Clarkson’s voice, the new Tom Tom device, which is set to be launched next month, also features a Stig mode – based on the Top Gear’s famously mute racing driver.

This will allow drivers to turn off Clarkson, if his in-car rants become too much.

Describing what the sat nav might sound like, Clarkson explained: “It is mostly about the tone of voice I use.

“There’s a tone of voice I use when ordering people to do things, so ‘I said left, left, I said left’, you know, that kind of thing. It’s not a gentle sat nav voice, put it like that.”

Heh.

Pig For Name Project Fails (Sorta) - Updated




(Buteyongera, Uganda) It seems the Hornsleth Village Project has failed. Pigs all died.

On the other hand, a relatively unknown artist has made his name familiar to millions of people worldwide. Readers can decide on Hornsleth's success.

The residents of Buteyongera village were excited to receive animals they could use to boost their earnings. Many were comfortable getting a new name as a piglet was what they received in return, but disease and death struck.

At first, they developed blotches. Then their hairs started falling off until the bare unsightly skin was exposed to the elements. This happened just as many were approaching their reproductive stage. Later, after they had received some jabs, their skins “healed” and the sleek white fur started sprouting. But misfortune struck again; this time they just started dying one by one. The villagers got alarmed.

None of them though, thought of the most prudent thing to do: take the carcasses for post-mortem. That could have informed how they should have handled the surviving ones. Now five years later, all that the villagers say is, “The pigs died.”

People have stopped answering to the Hornsleth name since all the pigs got sick and died. The carcasses were buried. No necropsy is known to have been performed so the cause of the deathly sickness remains unclear.

Interestingly, some believe that the pigs were poisoned by local politicians who feared that success for the project would be to their political disadvantage. Heh.

* * * * *
Pig For Name Project
[Previous 12/11/06 post]
(Kampala, Uganda) Interesting controversy is brewing in eastern Africa. A Danish artist, Kristian von Hornsleth, has been giving Ugandan villagers a pig or goat if they change their names to Hornsleth. The purpose of the project is to be a commentary on the hypocrisies of society. It's unknown what that means.

From Aljazeera.net:

But the scheme has outraged some in the Ugandan government. Officials such as James Buturo, the ethics and integrity minister, have condemned the Uganda Village Project, which Hornsleth launched in June, as racist.

Letters to newspapers have also expressed outrage, in addition to, support for the "pig-for-name" project. The villagers seem particularly pleased.

"We're so grateful for these animals," said Kabaalu Muyiwe Hornsleth, trudging through a field of banana plants towards her new goat tied to a tree in Buteyongera village, central Uganda. "Who cares about a name? We're poor and he helped us."

The general attitude in the countryside is best illustrated by the words of George Sabadu Hornsleth, a 46-year-old Ugandan:

"Africans adopting European names for gifts - we've been doing that since colonial times. Why do you think I am called George?"

Heh.

Thoroughly reprehensible speech



The fashion industry has a lot to answer for

A size eight teenage model said being bullied for being too fat on Australia's Next Top Model sent a dangerous message to vulnerable young viewers. Alissandra Moone, 18, who at 57kg [125lb] is considered underweight on the Australian body mass index, was "stunned" when her size became an issue on Foxtel's top-rating show.

Judge Alex Perry has openly criticised Moone's body, likening it to "overstuffed luggage", [I'd like to smash that guy in his insulting mouth and I would be pleased if somebody did] and the clash is set to reach a head on tonight's episode.

"It's a very bad message to be sending to young girls who watch the show," Moone said yesterday. "It's harsh. It's stupid. And it's out of touch. I understand it's a reality of the (modelling) industry but this is a TV show and they should have a responsibility to censor that kind of thing.

The average dress size for most Aussie women is a 12 to 14, while the most recent Mission Australia youth survey showed body image was the most serious concern facing young people between 11 and 24 -- above bullying, drugs and family conflict.

The critique of Moone's size is in stark contrast to Melbourne Spring Fashion Week organisers' decision this year to only use models with a healthy BMI. Models will be vetted by casting agents to ensure they are not too thin before they are signed up.

Source

I know very little about the fashion industry but I understand that homosexuals are prominent in it and I have often heard the comment that they want women to look like boys. The effect however is to disparage normal women so I think what we should all do is to disparage the fashion industry to all who will listen

The insulting mouth above is not homosexual though he gives the impression that he is. He is also known for rough language. I actually applaud rough language under some circumstance but not when it is so cruelly and inaccurately addressed.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Girl Loses Legs

(Denver, Colorado) No names reported yet in an incident involving significant injury.

A 17-year-old Colorado State University student's legs were severed at the knees Monday when she fell under a freight train while trying to hop aboard, officials say.

A man with her was briefly dragged by the train and sustained minor injuries, said Cmdr. Jeff Satur, Longmont police spokesman.

The girl was taken to Longmont United Hospital by ambulance following the 1:03 p.m. accident and then flown by helicopter to Denver Health Medical Center.[…]

The girl and three male companions, ranging in age from 17 to 25, were attempting to jump aboard the moving northbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe train when the accident happened, he said.

Three males emerged relatively unscathed while the girl loses her legs. I'll make a wild guess that she wasn't the leader.

Pennsylvania Woman, 40, and Boy, 15

(York, Pennsylvania) A 40-year-old local woman, Greta L. Irizarry, was accused at arraignment Saturday of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

Irizarry faces charges of statutory sexual assault, indecent assault on a person under the age of 16, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of a minor.

On Friday at the police station, the boy told officers he had sexual intercourse with Greta Irizarry in her bedroom two or three times. He also gave police a written statement.

Also on Saturday, police took the woman from her home to the police station for questioning, reports said.

According to police, she admitted to the sexual contact with the boy and also provided a written statement.

Irizarry was booked into custody at the York County Prison with bail set at $2,500.

[Update 9/7/11] Added Myspace pic. (h/t Barry)

Al-Qaeda Big Busted in Pakistan

(Quetta, Pakistan) Senior al-Qaeda leader Younis al-Mauritani (aka Mauritania) has been arrested in Quetta along with two other high-ranking terrorists, Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami.

Al-Mauritani has been described as al-Qaeda's foreign minister.

Co-operation between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency led to the arrests by the paramilitary, it said, without saying when Mauritani was detained.

"In an intelligence-driven operation by Inter-Services Intelligence in coordination with Frontier Corps Balochistan, a senior Al-Qaeda leader, Younis al-Mauritani, mainly responsible for planning and conduct of international operations, was nabbed," the statement said.

Reportedly, al-Mauritani took orders directly from Osama bin Laden. His arrest has been described as a good catch.

Shrimps of the Sky?

(Brussels, Belgium) To save the environment and remedy food shortages, the European Union is offering €3 million ($4 million) research grant for promoting the eating of insects. The EU seeks research on the safety of eating bugs.

Professor Marcel Dicke, leading a team at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, which is applying for the research grant, said: ''By 2020, you will be buying insects in supermarkets. We will be amazed that in 2011 people didn't think it was going to happen.



Bugs and cukes
''We have already seen the introduction of eggplants, sushi, things people never ate here. I think it will start with ground-up insects in sauces and burgers. Grinding them up will make them look more palatable.''

He said bugs were biologically similar to shellfish and that flying insects should be regarded as ''shrimps of the sky''.

Just think, if the geniuses at the European Union get their way, roach coaches may soon be selling actual roaches.

Man Fatally Chokes on In-Flight Meal




(Auckland, New Zealand) Ninety minutes into a flight from Singapore to Auckland, a 31-year-old man, Robert Rippingale, choked to death on the in-flight meal. Traveling with his female friend, Vanessa Preechakul, to visit his parents, Mr. Rippingale had a beef dish.

Miss Preechakul said she noticed him shaking, but did not realise anything was wrong. ‘I thought he was laughing very hard,’ she said. ‘Then I looked at his face and his eyes were rolling and he couldn’t talk. His lips were turning purple.’

A doctor and two nurses among the passengers went to help after hearing Miss Preechakul’s screams. Mr Rippingale, who had been living and working in Singapore for three years, was carried to the galley where the medical team performed CPR, but were unable to save him.

Sadly, a distraught Miss Preechakul sat with the corpse of Mr. Rippingale for the remaining nine hours of the flight.

The Obama recession is by far the worst since WWII

It's jobs day, so of course today's CHART OF THE DAY is the latest update of this classic, which we've dubbed The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever.



What the chart (made by Calculated Risk) shows is the trajectory of job losses and gains during the great recession, compared to previous recessions.

So as you can see, the depth of the decline was much worse than any other recession, and what's more, the pace of the recovery is much weaker than in previous ones. Over a year it was looking as though the recovery might be kind of V-Shaped (a really big, wide V), but now it's clear that the comeback won't look anything like the decline. And now the comeback is basically flatlining. Yeah, scary.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Lawsuit Claims Microsoft Collects Phone User Data

From eWeek:

A lawsuit claims Microsoft is building out a location-based database by collecting geo-location data from its Windows Phone 7 phones, even when the user declined to share location data.

A lawsuit filed in Washington state accused Microsoft of tracking Windows Phone users without their consent even after users have opted out of information sharing.

I suggest it is prudent to flat-out expect that your individual data are collected when using interconnected electronic devices.

Investigator Caught in Probe - Updated

State Police Officer Bert Lopez has reportedly been fired.

Police have said they are assured the sexual encounter was not in exchange for anything related to Lopez's position as a law enforcement officer and was not criminal.

Lopez, a 2009 Officer of the Year, has 30 days to appeal his firing before a special commission.

* * * * *
[Previous 8/31/post]
This video of shamelessness is arguably NSFW.




(Santa Fe, New Mexico) After a public records request, local media obtained surveillance photos of a State Police officer engaging in sex with a woman on the hood of a car. According to Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia, the photos were taken by a camera set up to catch graffiti taggers.

The State Police are reportedly not commenting on what they consider to be an ongoing personnel issue.

Tip: Charley Nestor


[Update 9/1/11]

(Santa Fe, New Mexico) Investigators are claiming that no crime was committed by the State Police Officer in the sex on the hood case.

State police are not releasing the officer's name, but News 13 has learned it's Bert Lopez. The 8-year vet was state police officer of the year in the Santa Fe district in 2010. Even though state police won't confirm it's him, NMSP Sgt. Tim Johnson did tell News 13 that Lopez is currently, “On administrative leave.”

Johnson wouldn't say if the officer was officially on duty but did say “An employee who did something like this in uniform would be considered on duty.”

The pictures surfaced about two weeks ago, and Johnson said, “An internal investigation was initiated immediately.”

State police have completed that investigation, and johnson says “At this point we do not believe any criminal activity occurred.”

State Police are not identifying the woman in the pictures, and won't comment on her relationship to the officer. They do say the woman was not involved in any of the officer's cases.

Sheriff Robert Garcia said that since there was no victim, there was no crime. Heh.

Huda the Hang Woman Arrested



Huda Ben Amer
(Tripoli, Libya) Revolutionaries arrested one of Gaddafi's ruthless favorites on Friday. Huda Ben Amer, 57, is known as "the executioner" and "the vampire."

“If the revolution fails, Huda ben Amer will hang all of us,” one of the revolutionaries said on television, referring to one of the most formidable members of the Qaddafi regime, a woman who had for 27 years been considered one of the main participants in the Libyan leader’s atrocities against his people.

Amer, whose house in Benghazi was burned down a week after the start of the February 17 Revolution, was known for her role in several hangings of Qaddafi opponents, which is why she is known as “Huda al-Shannaga,” which literally translates to “Huda the hang woman.”

In her early twenties, Amer started earning her fame as Libya’s monstrous executioner when she took part in the violent clampdowns on dissident students, which began in 1972 and ended in 1985.

As a favorite of Gaddafi, Ben Amer became one of the richest and most powerful women in Libya. Arguably, Ben Amer is the poster girl for unmitigated evil, reportedly once assembling a stadium full of schoolchildren to witness the hanging of a political foe of Gaddafi.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

California Coach Faces More Charges - Updated

(Napa, California) While out on bail, Christa Tharp, now reported to be 38 years old, was ordered not to have any contact with her 16-year-old female victim.

Tharp apparently couldn't stay away from the girl, called Jane Doe in court documents, and was arrested again last week for violating the terms of her release. She also failed to comply with a restraining order.

According to authorities, Tharp met Jane Doe and another 16-year-old girl at Napa Valley College on Aug. 15 at a motel in Cordelia on Aug. 26 and at Tulocay Cemetery on Aug. 30.

Jane Doe and the other girl, who acted as an intermediary, skipped school to meet with Tharp while the former coach was out on $100,000 bail, authorities said.

Tharp allegedly kissed and hugged Jane Doe at each meeting, police said in court documents. She also allegedly contacted her via telephone and text messages.

The prosecution is seeking an increase in bail.

* * * * *
California Coach Accused of Sex with Juvenile
[Previous 7/27/11 post]
(Napa, California) A 33-year-old softball coach at Napa High School, Christa Rene Tharp, has been accused of engaging in an "ongoing sexual relationship" with a juvenile she met while coaching a youth softball team.

Police reportedly "received information" of inappropriateness and interviewed the alleged victim who confirmed that there was a relationship. The gender of the victim has not been reported. Readers may speculate.

Tharp was arrested on suspicion of oral copulation with a person under the 18 years of age, contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense, molesting a child under 18 years of age and sending harmful matter to a minor with the intent to seduce, police said.

Tharp was booked into custody at the Napa County Jail and subsequently released. Note that police said there may be more victims.

Aussie Teacher Jailed in Pregnant Student Case

(Queensland, Australia) In 2008, a 55-year-old physics teacher at Melbourne Girls' College, Stephen Peter Morrow, was convicted of engaging in sex in the 1990s with a 16-year-old virgin who became pregnant and subsequently had an abortion.

The County Court heard Morrow had unprotected sex with the student at least 33 times in his car and in motels.

The first time they had sex was in his car while the girl was still wearing part of her school uniform.

In 2006 the woman secretly taped a phone call with Morrow after making a report to police.

For the conviction, Morrow was sentenced to six years in jail but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a retrial was ordered.

At his retrial in 2010, Morrow received three years in jail for sexual penetration of a 16-year-old girl, getting her pregnant and paying for her abortion.

In the latest development, the Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal (QCAT) has decided not to discipline Morrow even though he deserves it.

In reaching its decision whether Morrow should be subjected to disciplinary action, the panel said: "The relevant legislative provisions are technical and somewhat tortuous to navigate.''

"Disciplinary proceedings are protective, not punitive in nature.

"The tribunal is satisfied that the public interest is protected as a consequence of Mr Morrow's status as an excluded person ... (and) for leave to be granted to QCT to withdraw disciplinary referral relating to Mr Morrow.''

It's obvious that "technical and somewhat tortuous" is a euphemism for "completely indecipherable."

Tip: JR

Teacher's Aide Gets Diversion in Sex Case - Updated

(Athens, Tennessee) Former teacher's aide at Rogers Creek Elementary School, Tonia Hennessee Martin, admitted to engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy but she didn't plead guilty.

Instead, Martin asked for judicial diversion and a McMinn County Criminal Court judge granted the request.

A court clerk said if Martin stays out of trouble for two years, she can ask to have her record cleared.

Martin's agreement said that she is to have no contact with the victim, must stay off school grounds, and can not attend any school functions. She is also liable for all court costs.

It appears that Martin may walk away from her past without punishment and without a record. Diversion seems similar to a pocket veto where the entire issue just dies. It's arguably quite lenient treatment considering she was originally charged with aggravated statutory rape and solicitation of a minor.

One must wonder how a 38-year-old man would have fared facing the same charges in the same court. I suggest he would have received a stretch in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Tennessee Teacher's Aide Faces Sex Charges
[Previous 2/19/11 post]
(Athens, Tennessee) A 38-year-old teacher's aide, Tonia Hennessee Martin, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male, a friend of her daughter.

Martin has been indicted by a McMinn County grand jury on two counts of aggravated statutory rape and solicitation of a minor.

Investigators first learned about the allegations in January when the victim and his parent filed a complaint.

At the time of the accusation, Martin was a teacher's aide at Rogers Creek Elementary School. She worked there for six years and resigned three weeks ago.

Sheriff Joe Guy says the incident was investigated, and statements Martin made to detectives led them to substantiate the allegations.

Martin was booked into custody at the McMinn County Justice Center and subsequently released on $10,000 bond.

Kentucky Mom Gets Life for Murders - Updated

(Louisville, Kentucky) After more than three years of procedural wrangling, Gail Coontz has pleaded guilty to murder per an agreement with the prosecution.

Judge Mary Shaw sentenced Coontz, 41, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years, a sudden end to the high-profile case in which Coontz faced a potential death penalty. Her trial had been scheduled to begin in a week.

A plea deal to resolve the case came together quickly, starting late Thursday night when prosecutors changed a previous plea offer of life in prison without parole to life with the possibility of parole in 25 years.

Coontz accepted the offer, pleading guilty to two charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence, terroristic threatening, unlawful imprisonment and wanton endangerment.

Her voice was barely audible as she admitted her guilt to Shaw, sometimes just nodding her head as the judge spoke.

Heh.

* * * * *
Kentucky Mom Admits Killing Her Children
[Previous 5/19/08 post]
(Louisville, Kentucky) A 37-year-old local woman and University of Louisville student, Gail Coontz, has been indicted for the murders of her two children.

Coontz was initially arrested in March after brandishing a gun and holding a University of Louisville counselor hostage.

The two children, 10-year-old Nikki and 14-year-old Greg, were subsequently found in their beds, shot multiple times as they were sleeping.

 
Nikki & Greg Coontz

A police report said Coontz admitted she had killed her children and pulled a gun on a psychologist and an officer at the counseling center, threatening to harm herself and others.

After about 15 minutes, Coontz gave her gun to the psychologist, police have said.

Coontz has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count of terroristic threatening and tampering with evidence and is being held at Metro Corrections on $500,000 bail.

Coontz is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow.

Mexican Journalists Brutally Murdered



Marcela Yarce & Rocío González Trápaga
(Mexico City, Mexico) Joggers in a neighborhood park found the bodies of two female journalists brutally murdered Wednesday.

The identities of Ana Maria Marcela Yarce Viveros and Rocio Gonzalez Trapaga were confirmed Thursday.

"The bodies of the women were found completely naked hidden under a plastic sheet and the preliminary investigations of the homicide department indicate that it may be the result of an assault," said Contralinea (magazine), adding the two bodies showed signs of being beaten.

Yarce is the founder of a weekly magazine that specializes in investigative journalism while Gonzalez Trapaga is a freelance reporter who used to work for the main national television station Televisa.

No suspects have been named since virtually every crime in contemporary Mexico can be attributed to the drug cartels.

August 2011 Update - U.S. Economy

First, the quick version, pictorially.




The informative, extended version is here.

WaPo Closing Regional Offices

Apparently intended for internal Washington Post use only:

Friends,

As some of you have probably heard already — and as has been rumored for some time — the Post has decided to shut down all of its regional bureaus except those in the state capitals of Virginia and Maryland.

Vernon, in a telephone conversation a little while ago, said that the Post’s leases on suburban bureaus will not be renewed after they expire, beginning in 2012, except in Richmond and Annapolis, which he said will “never” close. Vernon also says that although this is obviously another sign of the Post’s effort to grapple with the economy and the radical changes in the media business, the closure of the physical buildings does not mean that the Post will reduce its local coverage.

He emphasized that the Post remains committed to covering our region as aggressively as possible. To that end, he said he will also do everything in his power to use some of the savings from the closure of the bureaus to invest in better mobile technology for reporters. We’ll try to update you further as we hear more.

Please remember as we head into this Labor Day weekend that more than ever, tough times require a strong union, and we are only as strong as you are. As the Post continues to shrink, the Guild needs every person it can to become a dues-paying member.

Businesses shrinking during tough economic times is natural. Unfortunately, the elite media suffer a double-whammy since they are continuing an agenda of fostering pie-in-the-sky liberalism when people are without jobs and losing their homes.

Alleged Raft Sex

(Hamilton, Ohio) A 32-year-old local man, Edwin Charles Tobergta, was arrested last Sunday for allegedly engaging in sex with a pink inflatable swimming pool raft.

Tobergta faces charges of public indecency.

The owner of the raft told Hamilton Police Officer William Thacker he shouted at the suspect to stop.

"The witness stated the defendant appeared to be having sex with the raft due to the fact that his pants were down around his ankles," police wrote in the report.

Tobergta pulled up his pants and fled with the raft, the report states. Police said he confessed.

Reportedly, Mr. Tobergta has a history of similar offenses.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Utah Jobs Plan

(Salt Lake City, Utah) It's not clear how this jobs plan will affect the high U.S. unemployment rate. Granted, a few government clerks may be needed to process visas.

Utah businessmen are preparing to hire potentially thousands of Mexican temporary workers.

Representatives of several chambers of commerce and business groups met last week in Utah with local public officials and representatives of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to learn about a new state law, HB466, and about the procedure for processing H2B visas.

The entry into force of HB466 would allow businessmen to hire up to 16,000 temporary workers from Nuevo Leon, the state with which the Utah government signed an agreement to establish a pilot program.

Although the federal government still must give its final approval to the initiative because the preestablished number of 66,000 H2B visas has already been exceeded for this year, businessmen from Salt Lake City, Provo and other cities attended seminars to learn how to process those visas. [emphasis added]

Unfortunately, not explained is why temporary workers can't be recruited from high unemployment states like Michigan, Illinois and others. Given the state of the economy, filling available job openings with Americans should arguably take precedence over importing Mexican workers.

Companion post at A Western Heart.

Pay to Pray

(Orlando, Florida) The Islamic Society of Central Florida has decided to impose a $5 parking fee on worshippers at Orlando-area mosques.

The parking fee — viewed by many as "pay to pray" — has sparked outrage within the Muslim community. It violates the Islamic belief that money for religious purposes is given voluntarily.

Heh.

Mom Allegedly Blows Smoke into Baby's Mouth

(Gilbert, Arizona) A 21-year-old local mother, Jessica Callaway, was arrested last Saturday for child abuse stemming from an alleged incident where she blew marijuana smoke directly into the mouth of her 10-month-old daughter.

Reportedly, the child abuse was conveniently captured on video.

Police said the video shows the woman picking the baby up by her left leg and spanking her. When the infant continues to cry, Callaway screams at her to “shut the (expletive) up before I kick you in the mouth.”

Callaway then strikes the baby in the face with her open hand, police said. Police said no bruises were found on the infant’s leg or face.

Officers subsequently learned from Callaway’s roommate that she and Callaway had been smoking marijuana Friday night and that Callaway blew marijuana smoke into the baby’s mouth several times.

Callaway was booked into custody and released on bail.

Illinois Teacher Gets 30 Years in Sex Case - Updated

(Rockford, Illinois) Former Spanish teacher at Durand High School, Jennifer Diane Bland, 25, appeared in Winnebago County Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to sexual contact with six male students, ages 14 to 17, in 2009.

Bland, in her position as a teacher at the school, was in a position of trust or authority to the victims at the time the offenses were committed.

The offenses include unlawful sexual contact between Bland and six of the victims, and soliciting the seventh victim for a video of the victim unclothed and engaged in a sexual act.

As a result of her convictions on counts of criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and child pornography, Jennifer Bland was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

And she's only 25 years old. Ouch!

* * * * *
Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex with Boys
[Previous 10/24/09 post]
(Durand, Illinois) A 23-year-old Spanish teacher with the Durand School District, Jennifer Diane Bland, was arrested by Winnebago County Sheriff's deputies for alleged inappropriate relations with several male students.

Bland has been charged with six counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

A Winnebago County judge read the charges to her via video conference in court Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutors say Bland had sexual contact with four male students between the ages of 14 and 17. The first incident allegedly happened last spring; the others in September and October.

Bland was booked into custody with bond set at $200,000. A court appearance is scheduled for November 19.

German logic: Shut down German nuclear reactors and then import nuclear power from France

"Back to nature" feelings have always been strong in Germany. Hitler made it his ideal

Germany is importing massive amounts of nuclear-generated electricity from France following its decision to abandon atomic power in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

But it is still bracing for blackouts of the kind not seen since the Second World War as eight of the 17 reactors were switched off overnight in a populist move that is now seen as a rash decision.

Nuclear plants generated nearly a quarter of Germany's electricity. But after the tsunami and earthquake that sent radiation spewing from Fukushima in March, the government disconnected the eight oldest of Germany's 17 reactors. Three months later parliament voted to scrap nuclear power altogether, pledging a growing reliance on renewables.

The remaining nine reactors will close by 2019 - but experts predict a shortfall that will see the lights going out in power cuts across the continent's biggest economy before then.

Energy producers are scrambling to ensure an adequate supply while consumers fret about the costs.

Joachim Knebel, chief scientist at Germany's prestigious Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, said: 'It's easy to say, "Let's just go for renewables", and I'm quite sure we can someday do without nuclear, but this is too abrupt.'

Power producers have also warned that they cannot guarantee that the lights might not go out, especially if harsh winters are on the way.

Mr Knebel characterised the government's shutdown decision as 'emotional', and pointed out that, on most days, Germany had survived this experiment only by importing nuclear-generated electricity from France and also Czech Republic.

Fears are growing that the German plan will torpedo efforts to rein in man-made global warming as it might have to resort to burning coal or oil, or become reliant on natural gas supplies from Russia.

Laszlo Varro, head of the International Energy Agency's gas, coal and power markets division, called the plan 'very, very ambitious'.

But he added: 'It is not impossible, since Germany is rich and technically sophisticated. But the nuclear moratorium is very bad news in terms of climate policy. We are not far from losing that battle, and losing nuclear makes that unnecessarily difficult.'

The government counters that it is prepared to make huge investments in improving energy efficiency in homes and factories, as well as in new clean power sources and transmission lines. So far, there have been no blackouts.

Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of the German energy giant RWE, which owns two closed reactors here in Biblis, about 40 miles south of Frankfurt, said; 'Germany, in a very rash decision, decided to experiment on ourselves. 'The politics are overruling the technical arguments.'

Some 17 per cent of its electricity output is now renewable, a figure the government estimates will double in 10 years. On days when the offshore wind turbines spin full tilt, Germany produces more electricity from renewable sources than it uses, according to European energy monitors.

In Biblis, where two nuclear plants were shut down, the mayor thinks that popular support for a nuclear power-free Germany would have been far different if the electorate knew that power cuts might be the price to be paid.

He said: 'Yes, there is German angst about nuclear power. But if you phrased the question, "Would you want to phase out nuclear energy if it cost massively more and you risk blackouts?', the answer would be very different.'

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Georgia School Secretary Guilty of Sex Crimes

(Augusta, Georgia) This week, 29-year-old Collins Elementary School secretary Tiffiny Keturah Robinson avoided trial by pleading guilty to two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and child molestation.

An indictment alleged Robinson had sex with a 15-year-old pupil at her home in the 2800 block of Rasha Drive on Jan 1.

On Feb. 12, she picked up the boy from his home and drove him to the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center on 10th Street, where she booked a room and had sex with him again, according to the indictment.

She was also accused of taking a 15-year-old girl to a home on Channing Court between Jan. 1 and Feb. 16 “for the purpose of child molestation.”

Sentencing is TBD.